Du Bartas His Divine Weekes And Workes with A Compleate Collectio[n] of all the other most delight-full Workes: Translated and written by yt famous Philomusus: Iosvah Sylvester |
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 | Du Bartas |  |
237
1. The Ark.
THE FIRST PART OF THE SECOND DAY OF THE II. WEEK.
The Argvment.
Noah prepares the Ark: and thither brings(With him) a Seed-pair of all liuing things:
His exercise, a-ship-board: Atheist Cham
His holy Fathers humble Zeal doth blame;
And diversly impugns Gods Providence:
Noah refells his Faith-less arguments:
The Flood surceast: Th'Ark landed: Blood forbid:
The Rain-bowe bent; what is prefigured:
Wine drowneth Wit: Cham scoffs the Nakednes
Of's sleeping Sire: the Map of Drunkennes.
If now no more my sacred rimes distill
With Art-less ease from my dis-custom'd quill:
If now the Laurell, that but lately shaded
My beating temples, be dis-leav'd and vaded:
And if now, banisht from the learned Fount,
And cast down head-long from the lofty Mount
Where sweet Vrania sitteth to endite,
Mine humbled Muse flag in a lowely flight;
Blame these sad Times ingratefull cruelty,
My houshold cares, my healths infirmity,
My drooping sorrows for (late) grievous losses,
My busie suits, and other bitter crosses.
With Art-less ease from my dis-custom'd quill:
If now the Laurell, that but lately shaded
My beating temples, be dis-leav'd and vaded:
And if now, banisht from the learned Fount,
And cast down head-long from the lofty Mount
Where sweet Vrania sitteth to endite,
Mine humbled Muse flag in a lowely flight;
Blame these sad Times ingratefull cruelty,
My houshold cares, my healths infirmity,
My drooping sorrows for (late) grievous losses,
My busie suits, and other bitter crosses.
Lo, there the clogs that waigh down heavily
My best endevours, whilom soaring high:
My harvest's hail: the pricking thorns and weeds
That in my soule choak those diviner seeds.
O gracious God! remove my great incumbers,
Kindle again my faiths neer-dying imbers:
Asswage thine anger (for thine own Sons merit)
And from me (Lord) take not thy holy Spirit:
Comb, gild and polish, more then ever yet,
This later issue of my labouring wit:
And let not me be like the winde, that proudly
Begins at first to roar and murmur loudly
Against the next hils, over-turns the woods,
With furious tempests tumbles-vp the floods,
And (fiercely-fell) with stormy puffs constrains
The sparkling flints to roul about the Plains;
But flying, faints; and every league it goes,
One nimble feather of his wing doth lose:
But rather like a River poorly-breeding
In barren Rocks, thence drop by drop proceeding:
Which, toward the Sea, the more he flees his source,
With growing streams strengthens his gliding course,
Rowls, roars and foams, raging with rest-less motion,
And proudly scorns the greatnes of the Ocean.
My best endevours, whilom soaring high:
My harvest's hail: the pricking thorns and weeds
That in my soule choak those diviner seeds.
238
Kindle again my faiths neer-dying imbers:
Asswage thine anger (for thine own Sons merit)
And from me (Lord) take not thy holy Spirit:
Comb, gild and polish, more then ever yet,
This later issue of my labouring wit:
And let not me be like the winde, that proudly
Begins at first to roar and murmur loudly
Against the next hils, over-turns the woods,
With furious tempests tumbles-vp the floods,
And (fiercely-fell) with stormy puffs constrains
The sparkling flints to roul about the Plains;
But flying, faints; and every league it goes,
One nimble feather of his wing doth lose:
But rather like a River poorly-breeding
In barren Rocks, thence drop by drop proceeding:
Which, toward the Sea, the more he flees his source,
With growing streams strengthens his gliding course,
Rowls, roars and foams, raging with rest-less motion,
And proudly scorns the greatnes of the Ocean.
The Dooms of Adam lackt not long effect.
Eor th'angry Heav'ns (that can, without respect
Of persons, plague the stubborn Reprobate)
In Waters buried th'Vniversall state:
And never more the nimble painted Legions
With hardy wings had cleft the airy Regions:
We all had perisht, and the Earth in vain
Had brought such store of fruits, and grass, and grain,
If Lamech's Son (by new-found Art directed)
That huge vast vessell had not first erected,
Which (sacred refuge) kept the parent-pairs
Of all things moving in the Earth and Airs.
Eor th'angry Heav'ns (that can, without respect
Of persons, plague the stubborn Reprobate)
In Waters buried th'Vniversall state:
And never more the nimble painted Legions
With hardy wings had cleft the airy Regions:
We all had perisht, and the Earth in vain
Had brought such store of fruits, and grass, and grain,
If Lamech's Son (by new-found Art directed)
That huge vast vessell had not first erected,
Which (sacred refuge) kept the parent-pairs
Of all things moving in the Earth and Airs.
Now, while the Worlds-re-colonizing Boat
Doth on the waters over Mountains float,
Noe passeth not, with tales and idle play,
The tedious length of daies and nights away:
But, as the Sommers sweet distilling drops
Vpon the medowes thirsty yawning chops,
Re-greens the Greens, and doth the flow'rs re-flowr,
All scorcht and burnt with Auster's parching powr:
So, the care-charming hony that distils
From his wise lips, his house with comfort fils,
Flatters despair, dryes tears, calms inward smarts,
And re-advanceth sorrow-daunted harts.
Doth on the waters over Mountains float,
Noe passeth not, with tales and idle play,
The tedious length of daies and nights away:
But, as the Sommers sweet distilling drops
Vpon the medowes thirsty yawning chops,
Re-greens the Greens, and doth the flow'rs re-flowr,
All scorcht and burnt with Auster's parching powr:
So, the care-charming hony that distils
From his wise lips, his house with comfort fils,
Flatters despair, dryes tears, calms inward smarts,
And re-advanceth sorrow-daunted harts.
Cheer yee, my children: God doth now retire
These murdering Seas, which the revenging ire
Of his strict Iustice holy indignation
Hath brought vpon this wicked generation;
Arming a season, to destroy mankinde,
The angry Heav'ns, the water, and the winde:
As soon again his gracious Mercy will
Clear cloudy Heav'ns, calm windes, and waters still,
These murdering Seas, which the revenging ire
Of his strict Iustice holy indignation
Hath brought vpon this wicked generation;
239
The angry Heav'ns, the water, and the winde:
As soon again his gracious Mercy will
Clear cloudy Heav'ns, calm windes, and waters still,
His wrath and mercy follow turn by turn;
That (like the Lightning) doth not lightly burn
Long in a place: and this from age to age
Hides with her wings the faithfull heritage.
Our gracious God makes scant-weight of displeasure,
And spreads his mercy without weight or measure:
Somtimes he strikes vs (to especiall ends)
Vpon our selues, our children, or our friends,
In soule or body, goods, or else good names,
But soon he casts his rods in burning flames:
Not with the fist, but finger he doth beat-vs;
Nor doth he thrill so oft as he doth threat-vs:
And (prudent Steward) gives his faithfull Bees
Wine of his Wrath, to rebell Drones the Lees.
And thus the deeds of Heav'ns Iust-gentle King,
The Second Worlds good Patriarch did sing.
That (like the Lightning) doth not lightly burn
Long in a place: and this from age to age
Hides with her wings the faithfull heritage.
Our gracious God makes scant-weight of displeasure,
And spreads his mercy without weight or measure:
Somtimes he strikes vs (to especiall ends)
Vpon our selues, our children, or our friends,
In soule or body, goods, or else good names,
But soon he casts his rods in burning flames:
Not with the fist, but finger he doth beat-vs;
Nor doth he thrill so oft as he doth threat-vs:
And (prudent Steward) gives his faithfull Bees
Wine of his Wrath, to rebell Drones the Lees.
And thus the deeds of Heav'ns Iust-gentle King,
The Second Worlds good Patriarch did sing.
But, brutish Cham, hat in his brest accurst
The secret roots of sinfull Atheisme nurst;
Wishing already to dis-throne th'Eternall,
And self-vsurp the Maiesty supernall:
And to himself, by name of Iupiter,
On Afrik funds a sumptuous Temple rear:
With bended brows, with stout and stern aspect,
In scornfull tearms his Father thus be-checkt:
The secret roots of sinfull Atheisme nurst;
Wishing already to dis-throne th'Eternall,
And self-vsurp the Maiesty supernall:
And to himself, by name of Iupiter,
On Afrik funds a sumptuous Temple rear:
With bended brows, with stout and stern aspect,
In scornfull tearms his Father thus be-checkt:
Oh! how is grieues me, that these servile terrors.
(The scourge of Cowards, and base vulgars errors)
Haue ta'en such deep root in your feeble brest!
Why, Father, alwayes selfly thus deprest?
Will you thus alwaies make your self a drudge,
Fearing the fury of a fained Iudge?
And will you alwayes forge your self a Censor
That waighs your words, and doth your silence censure?
A fly Controuler, that doth count your hairs,
That in his hand your hearts keyes ever bears,
Records your sighs, and all your thoughts descries,
And all your sins present and past espies?
A barbarous Butcher, that with bloody knife
Threats night and day your grievous-guilty life?
(The scourge of Cowards, and base vulgars errors)
Haue ta'en such deep root in your feeble brest!
Why, Father, alwayes selfly thus deprest?
Will you thus alwaies make your self a drudge,
Fearing the fury of a fained Iudge?
And will you alwayes forge your self a Censor
That waighs your words, and doth your silence censure?
A fly Controuler, that doth count your hairs,
That in his hand your hearts keyes ever bears,
Records your sighs, and all your thoughts descries,
And all your sins present and past espies?
A barbarous Butcher, that with bloody knife
Threats night and day your grievous-guilty life?
O! see you not the superstitious heat
Of this blinde zeale, doth in your minde beget
A thousand errors? light credulity
Doth drive you still to each extreamity,
Faining a God (with thousand storms opprest)
Fainter then Women, fiercer then a Beast.
Of this blinde zeale, doth in your minde beget
A thousand errors? light credulity
Doth drive you still to each extreamity,
Faining a God (with thousand storms opprest)
Fainter then Women, fiercer then a Beast.
240
Who (tender-hearted) weeps at others weeping,
Wails others woes, and at the onely peeping
Of others blood, in sudden swoun deceases,
In manly brest a womans heart possesses:
And who (remorse-less) lets at any season
The stormy tide of rage transport his reason,
And thunders threats of horror and mishap,
Hides a Bears heart vnder a humane shape.
Yet, of your God, you one-while thus pretend;
He melts in tears, if that your fingers end
But ake a-while: anon, he frets, he frowns,
He burns, he brains, he kiss, he dams, he drowns.
Wails others woes, and at the onely peeping
Of others blood, in sudden swoun deceases,
In manly brest a womans heart possesses:
And who (remorse-less) lets at any season
The stormy tide of rage transport his reason,
And thunders threats of horror and mishap,
Hides a Bears heart vnder a humane shape.
Yet, of your God, you one-while thus pretend;
He melts in tears, if that your fingers end
But ake a-while: anon, he frets, he frowns,
He burns, he brains, he kiss, he dams, he drowns.
The wildest Boar doth but one Wood destroy;
A cruell Tyrant but one Land annoy:
And yet this Gods outrageous tyranny
Spoils all the World, his onely Empery.
A cruell Tyrant but one Land annoy:
And yet this Gods outrageous tyranny
Spoils all the World, his onely Empery.
O goodly Iustice! One or two of vs
Have sinn'd perhaps, and mov'd his anger thus;
All bear the pain, yea even the innocent
Poor Birds and Beasts incurr the punishment.
Have sinn'd perhaps, and mov'd his anger thus;
All bear the pain, yea even the innocent
Poor Birds and Beasts incurr the punishment.
No, Father, no: ('t is folly to infer it)
God is no varying, light, inconstant spirit,
Full of revenge, and wrath, and moody hate,
Nor savage fell, nor sudden passionate,
Nor such as will for som small fault vndoo
This goodly World, and his own nature too.
God is no varying, light, inconstant spirit,
Full of revenge, and wrath, and moody hate,
Nor savage fell, nor sudden passionate,
Nor such as will for som small fault vndoo
This goodly World, and his own nature too.
All wandring clouds, all humid exhalations,
All Seas (which Heav'n through many generations
Hath hoorded vp) with selfs-waight enter-crusht,
Now all at once vpon the earth have rusht:
And th'end-less, thin air (which by secret quils
Had lost it self within the windes-but hils
Dark hollow Caves, and in that gloomy hold
To icy crystall turned by the cold)
Now swiftly surging towards Heav'n again,
Hath not alone drown'd all the lowely Plain,
But in few daies with raging Floods o'r-flow'n
The top-less Cedars of mount Libanon.
All Seas (which Heav'n through many generations
Hath hoorded vp) with selfs-waight enter-crusht,
Now all at once vpon the earth have rusht:
And th'end-less, thin air (which by secret quils
Had lost it self within the windes-but hils
Dark hollow Caves, and in that gloomy hold
To icy crystall turned by the cold)
Now swiftly surging towards Heav'n again,
Hath not alone drown'd all the lowely Plain,
But in few daies with raging Floods o'r-flow'n
The top-less Cedars of mount Libanon.
Then, with iust grief the godly Father, gall'd,
A deep, sad sigh from his hearts centre hal'd,
And thus reply'd: O false, rebellious Cham;
Mine ages sorrow, and my houses shame;
Though self-conceipt contemning th'holy Ghost,
Thy sense is baend, thine vnderstanding lost:
And ô I fear (Lord, falsifie my fear)
The heavy hand of the high Thunderer
Shall light on thee, and thou (I doubt) shalt be
His Furies obiect, and shalt testifie
By thine infamous lifes accursed state,
What now thy shame-less lips sophisticate.
A deep, sad sigh from his hearts centre hal'd,
And thus reply'd: O false, rebellious Cham;
Mine ages sorrow, and my houses shame;
Though self-conceipt contemning th'holy Ghost,
Thy sense is baend, thine vnderstanding lost:
And ô I fear (Lord, falsifie my fear)
The heavy hand of the high Thunderer
Shall light on thee, and thou (I doubt) shalt be
His Furies obiect, and shalt testifie
241
What now thy shame-less lips sophisticate.
I (God be prays'd) knowe that the perfect Circle
Whose Center's every-where, of all his circle
Exceeds the circuit; I conceiue aright
Th'Almighty-most to be most infinite:
That th'onely Essence feels not in his minde
The furious tempests of fell passions winde:
That mooueless, all he moves: that with one thought
He can build Heav'n; and, builded, bring to nought:
That his high Throne's inclos'd in glorious Fire
Past our approach: that our faint soule doth tire,
Our spirit growes spright-less, when it seeks by sense
To found his infinit Omni-potence.
I surely know the Cherubins do hover
With flaming wings his starry face to cover.
None sees the Great, th'Almighty, Holy-One,
But passing by and by the back alone.
To vs, his Essence is in-explicable,
Wondrous his wayes, his name vn-vtterable;
So that concerning his high Maiesty
Our feeble tongues speak but improperly.
For, if we call him strong, the prayse is small:
If blessed spirit, so are his Angels all:
If Great of greats, he's voide of quantity:
If good, fayr, holy, he wants quality;
Sith in his Essence fully excellent,
All is pure substance, free from accident.
Therefore our voice, too-faint in such a subiect
T'ensue our soule and our weak soule her obiect,
Doth alwayes stammer; so that euer when
'Twould make Gods name redoubted among men
(In humane phraze) it calls him pitifull,
Repentant, iealous, fierce, and angerfull.
Whose Center's every-where, of all his circle
Exceeds the circuit; I conceiue aright
Th'Almighty-most to be most infinite:
That th'onely Essence feels not in his minde
The furious tempests of fell passions winde:
That mooueless, all he moves: that with one thought
He can build Heav'n; and, builded, bring to nought:
That his high Throne's inclos'd in glorious Fire
Past our approach: that our faint soule doth tire,
Our spirit growes spright-less, when it seeks by sense
To found his infinit Omni-potence.
I surely know the Cherubins do hover
With flaming wings his starry face to cover.
None sees the Great, th'Almighty, Holy-One,
But passing by and by the back alone.
To vs, his Essence is in-explicable,
Wondrous his wayes, his name vn-vtterable;
So that concerning his high Maiesty
Our feeble tongues speak but improperly.
For, if we call him strong, the prayse is small:
If blessed spirit, so are his Angels all:
If Great of greats, he's voide of quantity:
If good, fayr, holy, he wants quality;
Sith in his Essence fully excellent,
All is pure substance, free from accident.
Therefore our voice, too-faint in such a subiect
T'ensue our soule and our weak soule her obiect,
Doth alwayes stammer; so that euer when
'Twould make Gods name redoubted among men
(In humane phraze) it calls him pitifull,
Repentant, iealous, fierce, and angerfull.
Yet is not God by this repentance, thus,
Of ignorance and error taxt, like vs:
His iealous hatred doth not make him curious,
His pitty wretched, nor his anger furious.
Th'immortall Spirit is ever calmly-cleer:
And all the best that feeble man doth heer,
With vehemence of some hot passion driv'n;
That, with ripe iudgement doth the King of Heav'n.
Of ignorance and error taxt, like vs:
His iealous hatred doth not make him curious,
His pitty wretched, nor his anger furious.
Th'immortall Spirit is ever calmly-cleer:
And all the best that feeble man doth heer,
With vehemence of some hot passion driv'n;
That, with ripe iudgement doth the King of Heav'n.
Shall a Physician comfortably-bold,
Fear-less, and tear-less, constantly behold
His sickly friend vext with exceeding pain,
And feel his pulse, and give him health again?
And shall not th'euer-selfe-resembling God
Look down from Heav'n vpon a wretched clod,
Without he weep, and melt for griefe and anguish;
Nor cure his creature, but himselfe must languish?
Fear-less, and tear-less, constantly behold
His sickly friend vext with exceeding pain,
And feel his pulse, and give him health again?
And shall not th'euer-selfe-resembling God
Look down from Heav'n vpon a wretched clod,
242
Nor cure his creature, but himselfe must languish?
And shall a Iudge, self-angerless, prefer
To shamefull death the strange adulterer;
As onely looking fixtly all the time
Not on the sinner, but the sinfull crime?
And shall not then th'Eternall Iusticer
Condemn the Atheist and the Murderer,
Without selfs-fury? O! shall Iustice then
Be blam'd in God, and magnifi'd in men?
Or shall his sacred Will, and soverain Might
Be chayn'd so fast to mans frail appetite,
That filthy sin he cannot freely hate,
But wrathfull Rage him selfly cruciate?
To shamefull death the strange adulterer;
As onely looking fixtly all the time
Not on the sinner, but the sinfull crime?
And shall not then th'Eternall Iusticer
Condemn the Atheist and the Murderer,
Without selfs-fury? O! shall Iustice then
Be blam'd in God, and magnifi'd in men?
Or shall his sacred Will, and soverain Might
Be chayn'd so fast to mans frail appetite,
That filthy sin he cannot freely hate,
But wrathfull Rage him selfly cruciate?
Gods sacred vengeance, serues not for defence
Of his own Essence from our violence
(For in the Heav'ns, aboue all reach of ours,
He dwels immur'd in diamantine Towers);
But, to direct our liues and laws maintain,
Guard Innocence, and Iniurie restrain.
Of his own Essence from our violence
(For in the Heav'ns, aboue all reach of ours,
He dwels immur'd in diamantine Towers);
But, to direct our liues and laws maintain,
Guard Innocence, and Iniurie restrain.
Th'Almighty past not mean, when-he subuerted
Neer all the World from holy paths departed.
For Adams Trunk (of both-our Worlds the Tree)
In two faire Branches forking fruitfully,
Of Cain and Seth; the first brought forth a sute
Of bitter, wilde, and most detested fruit:
Th'other, first rich in goodnes, afterward
With those base Scions beeing graft, was marr'd:
And so produced execrable clusters
Worthy so wicked and incestuous lusters:
And then (alas!) what was ther to be found
Pure, iust, or good, in all this Earthly Round?
Neer all the World from holy paths departed.
For Adams Trunk (of both-our Worlds the Tree)
In two faire Branches forking fruitfully,
Of Cain and Seth; the first brought forth a sute
Of bitter, wilde, and most detested fruit:
Th'other, first rich in goodnes, afterward
With those base Scions beeing graft, was marr'd:
And so produced execrable clusters
Worthy so wicked and incestuous lusters:
And then (alas!) what was ther to be found
Pure, iust, or good, in all this Earthly Round?
Cain's Line possest sinne, as an heritage;
Seth's as a dowry got by mariage:
So that (alas!) among all humane-kinde
Those Mongrell kisses marr'd the purest minde.
And we (even we, that haue escaped here
This cruell wrack) within our conscience bear
A thousand Records of a thousand things
Conuincing vs before the King of kings;
Whereof not one (for all our self-affection)
We can defend with any iust obiection.
Seth's as a dowry got by mariage:
So that (alas!) among all humane-kinde
Those Mongrell kisses marr'd the purest minde.
And we (even we, that haue escaped here
This cruell wrack) within our conscience bear
A thousand Records of a thousand things
Conuincing vs before the King of kings;
Whereof not one (for all our self-affection)
We can defend with any iust obiection.
God playd no Tyrant, choaking with the floods
The earthly Bands and all the ayrie broods:
For, sith they liv'd but for mans seruice sole,
Man, raz'd for sin out of the Liuing Roule,
Those wondrous tools, and organs excellent,
Their Work-man rest, remain'd impertinent.
Man's only head of all that draweth breath.
Who lacks a member, yet persevereth
To liue (we see): but, members cut away
From their own head, do by and by decay.
The earthly Bands and all the ayrie broods:
For, sith they liv'd but for mans seruice sole,
Man, raz'd for sin out of the Liuing Roule,
Those wondrous tools, and organs excellent,
Their Work-man rest, remain'd impertinent.
243
Who lacks a member, yet persevereth
To liue (we see): but, members cut away
From their own head, do by and by decay.
Nor was God cruell, when he drown'd the Earth.
For, sit hence man had from his very birth
Rebeld against him; was't not equity,
That for his fault, his house should vtterly
Be rent and raz'd? that salt should there be sow'n,
That in the ruins (for instruction)
We for a time might reade and vnderstand
The righteous vengeance of Heav'ns wrathfull hand,
That wrought this Deluge: and no hoorded waues
Of ayry clouds, or vnder-earthly caves?
For, sit hence man had from his very birth
Rebeld against him; was't not equity,
That for his fault, his house should vtterly
Be rent and raz'd? that salt should there be sow'n,
That in the ruins (for instruction)
We for a time might reade and vnderstand
The righteous vengeance of Heav'ns wrathfull hand,
That wrought this Deluge: and no hoorded waues
Of ayry clouds, or vnder-earthly caves?
If all blew Curtins mixt of ayr and water,
Round over-spreading this wide All-Theater,
To som one Climate all at once should fly,
One Country they might drown vndoubtedly:
But our great Galley hauing gone so far,
So many months, in sight of either Star,
From Pole to Pole through sundry Climats whorld,
Showes that this Flood hath drowned all the world.
Round over-spreading this wide All-Theater,
To som one Climate all at once should fly,
One Country they might drown vndoubtedly:
But our great Galley hauing gone so far,
So many months, in sight of either Star,
From Pole to Pole through sundry Climats whorld,
Showes that this Flood hath drowned all the world.
Now non plust, if to re-inforce thy Camp,
Thou fly for succour to thine Ayery Damp:
Showe, in the concave of what Mountains steep
We may imagine Dens sufficient deep
For so much ayr as gushing out in fountains,
Should hide the proud tops of the highest Mountains;
Sith a whole tun of ayr scarce yeelds (in triall)
Water ynough to fill one little Viall.
And what should then betide those empty spaces?
What should succeed in the forsaken places
Of th'air's thin parts (in swift springs shrinking thence)
Sith there's no voyd in th'All-circumference?
Thou fly for succour to thine Ayery Damp:
Showe, in the concave of what Mountains steep
We may imagine Dens sufficient deep
For so much ayr as gushing out in fountains,
Should hide the proud tops of the highest Mountains;
Sith a whole tun of ayr scarce yeelds (in triall)
Water ynough to fill one little Viall.
And what should then betide those empty spaces?
What should succeed in the forsaken places
Of th'air's thin parts (in swift springs shrinking thence)
Sith there's no voyd in th'All-circumference?
Whence (wilt thou say) then coms this raging flood,
That ouer-flowes the windy Ryphean Wood,
Mount Libanus, and enuiously aspires
To quench the light of the celestiall fires?
That ouer-flowes the windy Ryphean Wood,
Mount Libanus, and enuiously aspires
To quench the light of the celestiall fires?
Whence (shall I say) then, whence-from coms it (Cham)
That Wolues, and Panthers waxing meek and tame,
Leaving the horror of their shady home,
Adiourn'd by Heav'n, did in my presence com,
Who holding subiect vnder my command
So many creatures humbled at my hand,
Am now restor'd to th'honour and estate
Whence Adam fell through sin and Satans hate?
Whence doth it com, or by what reason is't,
That vnmann'd Haggards to mine empty fist
Com without call? Whence coms it, that so little
Fresh water, fodder, meal, and other victuall,
Should serue so long so many a greedy-gut
As in the dark holds of this Ark is shut?
That heer the Partridge doth not dread the Hauk?
Nor fearfull Hare the spotted Tiger baulk?
That all these storms our Vessell haue not broak?
That all this while we do not ioyntly choak
With noysom breath, and excrementall stink
Of such a common and continuall sink?
And that our selues, mid all these deaths, are sav'd
From these All-Seas, where all the rest are Grav'd?
That Wolues, and Panthers waxing meek and tame,
Leaving the horror of their shady home,
Adiourn'd by Heav'n, did in my presence com,
Who holding subiect vnder my command
So many creatures humbled at my hand,
Am now restor'd to th'honour and estate
Whence Adam fell through sin and Satans hate?
Whence doth it com, or by what reason is't,
That vnmann'd Haggards to mine empty fist
244
Fresh water, fodder, meal, and other victuall,
Should serue so long so many a greedy-gut
As in the dark holds of this Ark is shut?
That heer the Partridge doth not dread the Hauk?
Nor fearfull Hare the spotted Tiger baulk?
That all these storms our Vessell haue not broak?
That all this while we do not ioyntly choak
With noysom breath, and excrementall stink
Of such a common and continuall sink?
And that our selues, mid all these deaths, are sav'd
From these All-Seas, where all the rest are Grav'd?
In all the compass of our floating Inns,
Are not so many planks, and boords, and pins,
As wonders strange, and miracles that ground
Mans wrangling Reason, and his wits confound:
And God, no less his mighty powr displayd
When he restor'd, then when the World he made.
O sacred Patron! pacific thine ire,
Bring home our Hulk: these angry floods retire;
A-liue and dead, let vs perceiue and proove
Thy wrath on others, on our selues thy love.
Are not so many planks, and boords, and pins,
As wonders strange, and miracles that ground
Mans wrangling Reason, and his wits confound:
And God, no less his mighty powr displayd
When he restor'd, then when the World he made.
O sacred Patron! pacific thine ire,
Bring home our Hulk: these angry floods retire;
A-liue and dead, let vs perceiue and proove
Thy wrath on others, on our selues thy love.
Thus Noah sweetens his Captivity,
Beguiles the time, and charms his misery,
Hoping in God alone: who, in the Mountains
Now stopping close the veins of all the Fountains,
Shutting Heav'ns fluces, causing th'ayr (controul'd)
Close-vp his channels, and his Seas with-hould,
Cals forth the windes. O Heav'ns fresh fans (quoth he)
Earths sweeping Brooms, O Forrests enmity,
O you my Heralds and my Harbengers
My nimble Postes and speedy Messengers,
Mine arms, my sinews, and mine Eagles swift
That through the ayr my rowling Chariot lift,
When from my mouth in my iust-kindled ire
Fly Sulph'ry fumes, and hot consuming fire,
When with my Lightning Scepters dreadfull wonder
I muster horror, darknes, clouds and thunder:
Wake, rise, and run, and drink these waters dry,
That hills and dales haue hidden from the sky.
Beguiles the time, and charms his misery,
Hoping in God alone: who, in the Mountains
Now stopping close the veins of all the Fountains,
Shutting Heav'ns fluces, causing th'ayr (controul'd)
Close-vp his channels, and his Seas with-hould,
Cals forth the windes. O Heav'ns fresh fans (quoth he)
Earths sweeping Brooms, O Forrests enmity,
O you my Heralds and my Harbengers
My nimble Postes and speedy Messengers,
Mine arms, my sinews, and mine Eagles swift
That through the ayr my rowling Chariot lift,
When from my mouth in my iust-kindled ire
Fly Sulph'ry fumes, and hot consuming fire,
When with my Lightning Scepters dreadfull wonder
I muster horror, darknes, clouds and thunder:
Wake, rise, and run, and drink these waters dry,
That hills and dales haue hidden from the sky.
Th'Æolian Crowd obays his mighty call,
The surly surges of the waters fall,
The Sea retreateth: and the sacred Keel
Lands on a Hill, at whose proud feet do kneel
A thousand Hils, his lofty horn adoring
That cleaues the clouds, the starry welking goaring.
Then hope-cheer'd Noah, first of all (for scout)
Sends forth the Crowe, who flutters neer-about;
And finding yet no landing place at all,
Returns a-boord to his great Admirall.
The surly surges of the waters fall,
The Sea retreateth: and the sacred Keel
Lands on a Hill, at whose proud feet do kneel
A thousand Hils, his lofty horn adoring
That cleaues the clouds, the starry welking goaring.
Then hope-cheer'd Noah, first of all (for scout)
Sends forth the Crowe, who flutters neer-about;
245
Returns a-boord to his great Admirall.
Som few daies after from the window flyes
The harm-less Doue for new discoueries:
But seeing yet no shoar, she (almost tyr'd)
Aboord the Carrack back again retir'd.
The harm-less Doue for new discoueries:
But seeing yet no shoar, she (almost tyr'd)
Aboord the Carrack back again retir'd.
But yet the Sun had seav'n Heav'n-Circuits rode,
To view the World a-fresh she flyes abroad;
And brings a-boord (at evening) in her bill
An Oliue branch with water pearled still.
To view the World a-fresh she flyes abroad;
And brings a-boord (at evening) in her bill
An Oliue branch with water pearled still.
O happy presage! O deer pledge of loue!
O wel-com newes! behold the peacefull Doue
Brings in her beak the Peace-branch, boading weal
And truce with God; who by this sacred seal
Kindly confirms his holy Couenant,
That first in fight the Tiger rage shall want,
Lions be cowards, Hares couragious,
Yer he be false in word or deed to vs.
O sacred Oliue! firstling of the fruits,
Health-boading branch, be it thy tender roots
Haue lived still, while this strange Deluge lasted,
I doe reioice it hath not all things wasted:
Or be it since the Ebb, thou newly spring,
Prays'd be the bounty of th'immortall King
That quickens thus these dead, the World induing
With beauty fresh so suddainly renuing.
O wel-com newes! behold the peacefull Doue
Brings in her beak the Peace-branch, boading weal
And truce with God; who by this sacred seal
Kindly confirms his holy Couenant,
That first in fight the Tiger rage shall want,
Lions be cowards, Hares couragious,
Yer he be false in word or deed to vs.
O sacred Oliue! firstling of the fruits,
Health-boading branch, be it thy tender roots
Haue lived still, while this strange Deluge lasted,
I doe reioice it hath not all things wasted:
Or be it since the Ebb, thou newly spring,
Prays'd be the bounty of th'immortall King
That quickens thus these dead, the World induing
With beauty fresh so suddainly renuing.
Thus Noah spake: And though the World gan lift
Most of his Iles above the waters drift:
Though waxen old in his long weary night,
He see a friendly Sun to brandish bright:
Though choak't with ill ayr in his stinking stall,
Hee'l not a-shoar till God be pleas'd with-all;
And till (deuout) from Heav'n he vnderstand
Som Oracle to licence him to land.
Most of his Iles above the waters drift:
Though waxen old in his long weary night,
He see a friendly Sun to brandish bright:
Though choak't with ill ayr in his stinking stall,
Hee'l not a-shoar till God be pleas'd with-all;
And till (deuout) from Heav'n he vnderstand
Som Oracle to licence him to land.
But, warn'd by Heav'n, he commeth from his Cave,
(Or rather from a foul infectious Grave)
With Sem, Cam, Iapheth, and their twice-two Brides,
And thousand pairs of liuing things besides,
Vnclean and clean: for th'holy Patriark
Had of all kinds inclosed in the Ark.
(Or rather from a foul infectious Grave)
With Sem, Cam, Iapheth, and their twice-two Brides,
And thousand pairs of liuing things besides,
Vnclean and clean: for th'holy Patriark
Had of all kinds inclosed in the Ark.
But, heer I hear th'vngodly (that for fear
Late whispered softly in each others ear,
With silent murmurs muttering secretly)
Now trumpet thus their filthy blasphemie;
Late whispered softly in each others ear,
With silent murmurs muttering secretly)
Now trumpet thus their filthy blasphemie;
Who will beleeve (but shallow-brained Sheep)
That such a ship scarce thirty Cubits deep,
Thrice fifty long, and but once fifty large,
So many months could bear so great a charge?
Sith the proud Horse, the rough-skinn'd Elephant,
The lusty Bull, the Camell water-want,
And the Rhinocerot, would, with their fodder,
Fill-vp a Hulk farr deeper, longer, broader?
That such a ship scarce thirty Cubits deep,
Thrice fifty long, and but once fifty large,
So many months could bear so great a charge?
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The lusty Bull, the Camell water-want,
And the Rhinocerot, would, with their fodder,
Fill-vp a Hulk farr deeper, longer, broader?
O profane mockers! if I but exclude
Out of this Vessell a vast multitude
Of since-born mongrels, that deriue their birth
From monstrous medly of Venerean mirth;
Fantastik Mules, and spotted Leopards,
Of incest-heat ingendred afterwards:
So many sorts of Dogs, of Cocks and Doves,
Since, dayly sprung from strange and mingled loues
Wherein from time to time in various sort,
Dedalian Nature seems her to disport:
If playner, yet I proue you space by space,
And foot by foot, that all this ample place,
By subtile iudgement made and Symmetrie,
Might lodge so many creatures handsomly,
Sith euery brace was Geometricall:
Nought resteth (Momes) for your reply at all;
If, who dispute with God, may be content
To take for current, Reasons argument.
Out of this Vessell a vast multitude
Of since-born mongrels, that deriue their birth
From monstrous medly of Venerean mirth;
Fantastik Mules, and spotted Leopards,
Of incest-heat ingendred afterwards:
So many sorts of Dogs, of Cocks and Doves,
Since, dayly sprung from strange and mingled loues
Wherein from time to time in various sort,
Dedalian Nature seems her to disport:
If playner, yet I proue you space by space,
And foot by foot, that all this ample place,
By subtile iudgement made and Symmetrie,
Might lodge so many creatures handsomly,
Sith euery brace was Geometricall:
Nought resteth (Momes) for your reply at all;
If, who dispute with God, may be content
To take for current, Reasons argument.
But heer t'admire th'Almighties powerfull hand
I rather loue, and silence to command
To mans discourse: what he hath said, is don:
For, euermore his word and deed are one.
I rather loue, and silence to command
To mans discourse: what he hath said, is don:
For, euermore his word and deed are one.
By his sole arm, the Gallions Masters saw
Themselues safe rescu'd from deaths yawning iaw;
And offers-vp to him in zealous wise,
The Peace-full sent of sweet burnt-sacrifice;
And sends withall above the starry Pole
These winged sighes from a religious soule;
Themselues safe rescu'd from deaths yawning iaw;
And offers-vp to him in zealous wise,
The Peace-full sent of sweet burnt-sacrifice;
And sends withall above the starry Pole
These winged sighes from a religious soule;
World-shaking Father, Windes King, calming-Seas,
With milde aspect behold vs; Lord appease
Thine Angers tempest, and to safety bring
The planks escap't from this sad Perishing:
And bound for ever in their antient Caves
These stormy Seas deep World-deuouring waves.
With milde aspect behold vs; Lord appease
Thine Angers tempest, and to safety bring
The planks escap't from this sad Perishing:
And bound for ever in their antient Caves
These stormy Seas deep World-deuouring waves.
Increase (quoth God) and quickly multiply,
And fill the World with fruitfull Progeny:
Resume your Scepter, and with new beheasts
Bridle againe the late revolted Beasts,
Re-exercise your wonted rule again,
It is your office ouer them to raigne:
Deere Children, vse them all: take, kill, and eate:
But yet abstain, and do not take for meat
Their ruddy soule: and leaue (O sacred seed!)
To rav'ning Fowls, of strangled flesh to feed.
And fill the World with fruitfull Progeny:
Resume your Scepter, and with new beheasts
Bridle againe the late revolted Beasts,
Re-exercise your wonted rule again,
It is your office ouer them to raigne:
Deere Children, vse them all: take, kill, and eate:
But yet abstain, and do not take for meat
Their ruddy soule: and leaue (O sacred seed!)
To rav'ning Fowls, of strangled flesh to feed.
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I, I am holy: be you holy then,
I deeply hate all cruell bloody men:
Therefore defile not in your brothers blood
Your guilty hands; refraine from cruell mood;
Fly homicide: doe not in any case,
In man, mine Image brutishly deface:
The cruell man a cruell death shall taste;
And blood with blood be venged first or last;
For euermore vpon the murderers head
My roaring storms of fury shall be shed.
I deeply hate all cruell bloody men:
Therefore defile not in your brothers blood
Your guilty hands; refraine from cruell mood;
Fly homicide: doe not in any case,
In man, mine Image brutishly deface:
The cruell man a cruell death shall taste;
And blood with blood be venged first or last;
For euermore vpon the murderers head
My roaring storms of fury shall be shed.
From hence-forth, fear no second Flood that shall
Cover the whole face of this earthly Ball:
I assure ye no; no, no, I sweare to you
(And who hath ever found mine Oath vntrue?)
Again, I swear by my thrice sacred Name:
And to confirm it, in the Clouds I frame
This coloured Bowe. When then som tempest black
Shall threat again the feareful World to wrack,
When water loaden Heav'ns your Hils shall touch,
When th'ayr with Midnight shall your Noon be-pitch,
Your cheerfull looks vp to this Rain-bowe cast.
For, though the same on moystfull Clouds be plaç't,
Though hemm'd with showrs and though it seem to sup
(To drown the World) all th'Oceans waters vp,
Yet shall it (when you seem in danger sink)
Make you, of me; me, of my promise, think.
Cover the whole face of this earthly Ball:
I assure ye no; no, no, I sweare to you
(And who hath ever found mine Oath vntrue?)
Again, I swear by my thrice sacred Name:
And to confirm it, in the Clouds I frame
This coloured Bowe. When then som tempest black
Shall threat again the feareful World to wrack,
When water loaden Heav'ns your Hils shall touch,
When th'ayr with Midnight shall your Noon be-pitch,
Your cheerfull looks vp to this Rain-bowe cast.
For, though the same on moystfull Clouds be plaç't,
Though hemm'd with showrs and though it seem to sup
(To drown the World) all th'Oceans waters vp,
Yet shall it (when you seem in danger sink)
Make you, of me; me, of my promise, think.
Noah looks-vp, and in the Ayr he views
A semi-Circle of a hundred hews:
Which, bright ascending toward th'æthereall thrones,
Hath a lyne drawn between two Orizons
For iust Diameter: an even-bent bowe
Contriv'd of three; whereof the one doth showe
To be all painted of a golden hew,
The second green, the third an orient blew;
Yet so, that in this pure blew-golden-green
Still (Opal-like) som changeable is seen.
A Bowe bright-shining in th'Arch-Archers hand,
Whose subtill string seems level with the Land,
Half-parting Heav'n; and over vs it bends,
Within two Seas wetting his horned ends;
A temporall beauty of the lampfull skies,
Where powrfull Nature shewes her freshest Dies.
A semi-Circle of a hundred hews:
Which, bright ascending toward th'æthereall thrones,
Hath a lyne drawn between two Orizons
For iust Diameter: an even-bent bowe
Contriv'd of three; whereof the one doth showe
To be all painted of a golden hew,
The second green, the third an orient blew;
Yet so, that in this pure blew-golden-green
Still (Opal-like) som changeable is seen.
A Bowe bright-shining in th'Arch-Archers hand,
Whose subtill string seems level with the Land,
Half-parting Heav'n; and over vs it bends,
Within two Seas wetting his horned ends;
A temporall beauty of the lampfull skies,
Where powrfull Nature shewes her freshest Dies.
And if you onely blew and red perceive,
The same as signes of Sea, and Fire conceiue;
Of both the flowing and the flaming Doom,
The Iudgement past, and Iudgement yet to come.
The same as signes of Sea, and Fire conceiue;
Of both the flowing and the flaming Doom,
The Iudgement past, and Iudgement yet to come.
Then, having call'd on God, our second Father
Suffers not sloth his arms together gather,
But fals to work, and wisely now renew'th
The Trade he learn'd to practice in his youth.
For, the proud issue of that Tyrant rude
That first his hand in brothers bloud imbrewd,
As scorning Ploughs, and hating harm-less tillage,
And (wantons) prising less the homely village,
With fields and Woods, then th'idle Cities shades;
Imbraced Laws, Scepters, and Arts, and Trades.
But Seths Sons, knowing Nature soberly
Content with little, fell to Husbandry,
Thereto reducing, with industrious care,
The Flocks and Droves cover'd with wool and hair;
As prayse-full gain, and profit void of strife,
Art nurse of Arts, and very life of life.
Suffers not sloth his arms together gather,
248
The Trade he learn'd to practice in his youth.
For, the proud issue of that Tyrant rude
That first his hand in brothers bloud imbrewd,
As scorning Ploughs, and hating harm-less tillage,
And (wantons) prising less the homely village,
With fields and Woods, then th'idle Cities shades;
Imbraced Laws, Scepters, and Arts, and Trades.
But Seths Sons, knowing Nature soberly
Content with little, fell to Husbandry,
Thereto reducing, with industrious care,
The Flocks and Droves cover'd with wool and hair;
As prayse-full gain, and profit void of strife,
Art nurse of Arts, and very life of life.
So the bright honour of the Heav'nly Tapers
Had scarcely boxed all th'Earths dropsie vapours,
When hee that sav'd the store-seed-World from wrack,
Began to delve his fruitfull Mothers back,
And there soon-after planteth heedfully
The brittle branches of the Nectar-tree.
Had scarcely boxed all th'Earths dropsie vapours,
When hee that sav'd the store-seed-World from wrack,
Began to delve his fruitfull Mothers back,
And there soon-after planteth heedfully
The brittle branches of the Nectar-tree.
For, 'mong the pebbles of a pretty hill
To the warm Sunsey lying open still,
He sets in furrows or in shallow trenches
The crooked Vines choice scyons, shoots, and branches:
In March he delves them, re-re-delves, and dresses:
Cuts, props and proins; and God his work so blesses,
That in the third September for his meed
The plentious Vintage doth his hopes exceed.
To the warm Sunsey lying open still,
He sets in furrows or in shallow trenches
The crooked Vines choice scyons, shoots, and branches:
In March he delves them, re-re-delves, and dresses:
Cuts, props and proins; and God his work so blesses,
That in the third September for his meed
The plentious Vintage doth his hopes exceed.
Then Noah, willing to beguile the rage
Of bitter griefs that vext his feeble age,
To see with mud so many Roofs o're-growen,
And him left almost in the World alone;
One-day a little from his strictness shrunk,
And making merry, drinking, over-drunk:
And, silly, thinking in that hony-gall
To drown his woes, he drowns his wits and all.
Of bitter griefs that vext his feeble age,
To see with mud so many Roofs o're-growen,
And him left almost in the World alone;
One-day a little from his strictness shrunk,
And making merry, drinking, over-drunk:
And, silly, thinking in that hony-gall
To drown his woes, he drowns his wits and all.
His head growes giddy, and his foot indents,
A mighty fume his troubled brain torments,
His idle prattle from the purpose quite,
Is abrupt, stuttering, all confus'd, and light:
His wine-stuft stomack wrung with winde he feels:
His trembling Tent all topsie turuie wheels:
At last, not able on his legs to stand,
More like a foul Swine then a sober man,
Opprest with sleep, he wallows on the ground
His shame-less snorting trunk, so deeply drownd
In self-obliuion, that he did not hide
Those parts that Cæsar covered when he died.
A mighty fume his troubled brain torments,
His idle prattle from the purpose quite,
Is abrupt, stuttering, all confus'd, and light:
His wine-stuft stomack wrung with winde he feels:
His trembling Tent all topsie turuie wheels:
At last, not able on his legs to stand,
More like a foul Swine then a sober man,
Opprest with sleep, he wallows on the ground
His shame-less snorting trunk, so deeply drownd
In self-obliuion, that he did not hide
Those parts that Cæsar covered when he died.
249
Ev'n as the Ravens with windy wings o'r-fly
The weeping Woods of Happy Araby,
Despise sweet Gardens and delicious Bowrs
Perfuming Heav'n with odoriferous flowres,
And greedy, light vpon the loathsom quarters
Of som late Lopez, or such Romish Martyrs:
Or as a young, vnskilfull Painter raw,
Doth carelesly the fairest features draw
In any face, and yet too neerly marks
Th'vnpleasing blemish of deformed marks,
As lips too great, or hollowness of eys,
Or sinking nose, or such indecencies:
Even so th'vngodly Sonns of Leasings Father
With black Obliuions sponge ingrately smother
Fair Vertues draughts, and cast despightfully
On the least sinns the venom of the ey,
Frump others faults, and trumpet in all ages
The lightest trips of greatest Personages:
Like scoffing Cham that impudently viewd
His Fathers shame, and most profanely-lewd,
With scornfull laughter (grace-less) thus began
To infamize the poor old drunken man,
The weeping Woods of Happy Araby,
Despise sweet Gardens and delicious Bowrs
Perfuming Heav'n with odoriferous flowres,
And greedy, light vpon the loathsom quarters
Of som late Lopez, or such Romish Martyrs:
Or as a young, vnskilfull Painter raw,
Doth carelesly the fairest features draw
In any face, and yet too neerly marks
Th'vnpleasing blemish of deformed marks,
As lips too great, or hollowness of eys,
Or sinking nose, or such indecencies:
Even so th'vngodly Sonns of Leasings Father
With black Obliuions sponge ingrately smother
Fair Vertues draughts, and cast despightfully
On the least sinns the venom of the ey,
Frump others faults, and trumpet in all ages
The lightest trips of greatest Personages:
Like scoffing Cham that impudently viewd
His Fathers shame, and most profanely-lewd,
With scornfull laughter (grace-less) thus began
To infamize the poor old drunken man,
Com (brethren) com, com quickly and behould
This pure controuler that so oft contrould
Vs without cause: see how his bed he soyls:
See, how the wine (his master) now recoyls
By's mouth, and eys, and nose: and brutely so
To all that com his naked shame doth showe.
This pure controuler that so oft contrould
Vs without cause: see how his bed he soyls:
See, how the wine (his master) now recoyls
By's mouth, and eys, and nose: and brutely so
To all that com his naked shame doth showe.
Ah shame-less beast (both brethren him reproov'd,
Both chiding thus, both with iust anger moou'd)
Vnnaturall villain, monster pestilent,
Vnworthy to behould the firmament;
Where (absent we) thou ought'st haue hid before
With thine owne Cloak, but with thy silence more,
Thy Fathers shame, whom age, strong wine, and grief,
Haue made to fall, but once in all his life;
Thou barkest first, and sporting at the matter
Proclaim'st his fault on Infamies Theater.
And saying this (turning their sight a-side)
Their hoary Fathers nakedness they hide.
Both chiding thus, both with iust anger moou'd)
Vnnaturall villain, monster pestilent,
Vnworthy to behould the firmament;
Where (absent we) thou ought'st haue hid before
With thine owne Cloak, but with thy silence more,
Thy Fathers shame, whom age, strong wine, and grief,
Haue made to fall, but once in all his life;
Thou barkest first, and sporting at the matter
Proclaim'st his fault on Infamies Theater.
And saying this (turning their sight a-side)
Their hoary Fathers nakedness they hide.
When wine had wrought, this good old-man awook,
Agniz'd his crime, ashamed, wonder-strook
At strength of wine, and toucht with true repentance,
With Prophet-mouth gan thus his Sons fore-sentence:
Agniz'd his crime, ashamed, wonder-strook
At strength of wine, and toucht with true repentance,
With Prophet-mouth gan thus his Sons fore-sentence:
Curst be thou Cham, and curst be (for thy scorn)
Thy darling Canaan: let the pearly Morn,
The radiant Noon, and rheumy Euening see
Thy necke still yoaked with Captiuity.
God be with Sem: and let his gracious speed
Spread-wide my Iapheths fruitfull-swarming seed.
Thy darling Canaan: let the pearly Morn,
The radiant Noon, and rheumy Euening see
Thy necke still yoaked with Captiuity.
250
Spread-wide my Iapheths fruitfull-swarming seed.
Error, no error, but a wilfull badnes:
O soul defect! O short, O dangerous madnes!
That in thy rage, dost harm-less Clytus smother,
By his deer friend; Pentheus by his Mother.
Phrenzie, that makes the vaunter insolent;
The talk-full, blab; cruell, the violent:
The fornicator, wax adulterous;
Th'adulterer, becom incestuous:
With thy plagues leauen swelling all our crimes;
Blinde, shameless, sense-less, quenching of entimes
The soule within itself: and oft defames
The holiest men with execrable blames.
And as he Must, beginning to re-boyl,
Makes his new vessels wooden bands re-coyl,
Lifts-vp his lees, and spews with fuming vent
From his Tubs ground his scummy excrement:
So ruin'st thou thine hoast, and foolishly
From his harts bottom driv'st all secrecy.
But, hadst thou neuer don (O filthy poison!)
More mischief heer, but thus bereft of reason
This Vertues Module (rather Vertues best)
We ought thee more then Death it self detest.
O soul defect! O short, O dangerous madnes!
That in thy rage, dost harm-less Clytus smother,
By his deer friend; Pentheus by his Mother.
Phrenzie, that makes the vaunter insolent;
The talk-full, blab; cruell, the violent:
The fornicator, wax adulterous;
Th'adulterer, becom incestuous:
With thy plagues leauen swelling all our crimes;
Blinde, shameless, sense-less, quenching of entimes
The soule within itself: and oft defames
The holiest men with execrable blames.
And as he Must, beginning to re-boyl,
Makes his new vessels wooden bands re-coyl,
Lifts-vp his lees, and spews with fuming vent
From his Tubs ground his scummy excrement:
So ruin'st thou thine hoast, and foolishly
From his harts bottom driv'st all secrecy.
But, hadst thou neuer don (O filthy poison!)
More mischief heer, but thus bereft of reason
This Vertues Module (rather Vertues best)
We ought thee more then Death it self detest.
FINIS.
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